Americans Tony Robles and Nick Varner made unwanted exits from the round of 32 at the 2002 Hasseroder World Pool Championship in Cardiff, Wales today. Robles, hot off a runner-up finish at the BCA Pro Open in Las Vegas in May, lost an ugly war of attrition to former world champ Oliver Ortmann, 9-4, on the TV table. "That was absolutely my worst performance of the tournament so far," said Ortmann. "Tony didn't play well either but in the end I played bad and won good."

Hall-of-famer Varner came back from 7-2 down to Filipino wunderkind Alex Pagulayan to tie, 7-7, but then missed an easy 9 ball at 8-7 to give Pagulayan the win.

Yanks still in the running include Johnny Archer, who topped Dutchman Rico Diks, 9-7. Archer ran five straight racks for a 5-0 lead, then watched Diks come back and go ahead, 7-5. Archer heaved a sigh of relief as Diks scratched on the break and Archer saw to it that Diks remained seated through the rest of the match.

FABIO PETRONI is the big comedian of the tournament. His wild half-bleached blonde hair and mad attitude has captured the hearts of those around the arena. And the Italian has revealed one of the secrets of his success here - he keeps a picture of Efryn 'The Magician' Reyes in his cue case. Petroni's case is enormous. It contains three cues, towels, chalk, other bits and pieces - in fact everything but the kitchen sink, it seems. But pride of place goes to that picture of Reyes. The Italian said: "I keep it because he is my hero."
PAUL POTIER may have gone out but the Canadian with the smile on his face is still ready for action - maybe not on the table, though. Potier arrived at Cardiff International Arena in a nice loose Hawaian shirt and walked intently towards the Pool Village, seeming ready for a night out on the town. And, on his championships exit in the last 64, he said: "I was 7-2 up and I made two mistakes and lost it 9-7." He then shrugged his shoulders, put the smile back on his face and walked off as happy as though nothing had happened.
ONE official was left quite agast from a suggestion from top American pool coach Grady Mathews this week. The tournament is hard enough on the organisers who have to co-ordinate all the matches that go on in the tournament, especially through the group stages. Mathews, though, reckoned that not enough good players had qualified for the event, having started on Saturday with 128 people and over 400 matches through the group stages. Mathews suggested that the number of players should be DOUBLED to the next best figure - 256! When the official heard about this, she had a look of horror on her face and said 'Goodness gracious' (or words to that effect). "It's hard enough with the number of players we have got now!"